Meet The Family

My family seems to be big on nicknames.  When I was little, so little that I don't even remember it, I nicknamed several of the close people in my life. 
I think I've just inspired myself to do a blogpost on each of these monikers and the people to which they've been bestowed.  But this post will be about my siblings and our children and the pet names that have been given to us. 

My nickname, given to me by my mom is "Baby Boo-Boo Bear".  That seems like a mouthful but usually it gets shortened to"Boo-Boo Bear" or just "Boo-Boo".  Or if it's in writing or an email it's "BBB".  .

This is my brother, Seanoa Drake.  He's half Samoan and obviously quite handsome.  He's always gone by his middle name Drake.  His nickname started out as "Bug" but has been lengthened to "Buggie".  My sister and I always tease him that he's the favorite.  And my mom has made feeble attempts to deny it.  But being a mom of 4 kids, 3 of them boys, I completely understand that it's not a matter of favorites at all but more of that special bond between a mom and her boy.  Although it's still fun to tease him about it.  Especially when we get to throw the nickname "Buggie" in there.    Because Mercedes had a hard time saying his name when she was little, my kids call him "Uncle Jerky". 

 

My sister and I are fiercely protective of him; Me in more of a maternal, nurturing sense and my sister in more of a "mess with him, you mess with me", "let's take this out back" sense.

 



This is my sister, Whitney Jace.  She's 1/4 Italian and obviously a knockout.  It could be argued that she's my mom's favorite because not only does she have a nickname... she has a whole slogan!  It's "Whitney Jace With The Baby Doll Face."  Of course we don't greet her with this lengthy phrase but we will lovingly sing it to her at random.  Yes.  I said sing.  Kind of surprises you that we don't still refer to her as "the baby" anymore, doesn't it?  Since Mercedes had a hard time saying her name when she was little, my kids call her "Aunt Mitney".  (Let me take this moment to assure you that Mercedes speaks just fine nowadays.)  Whit will get upset if the kids call her anything but "Aunt Mitney".  If they call her "Aunt Whitney" she demands that they call her the right name and won't respond until they do. 



"WJWTBDF" with Nick. Who doesn't have a nickname since Mercedes speaks fine now that she's not two.

The grandkids all call my dad "Papa".  I have to say that it makes it very easy to distinguish between which grandparents that we're talking about when you have a "Papa" and a "Grandpa".  The only question now is should I write "Dad" or "Papa" on the envelope when I forward the dental bills?

 

 

I love this picture of my dad and Brandon. I don't think my mom has given Brandon any nicknames but my Grandma has.  She calls him "pedolito".  That's all I'm going to say about that.

 

 



Mercedes nickname is "Sadie Bug".  Here she is with Kylie.  Ky is my cousin.  Her mom (my aunt)  is 6 months younger than me and was one of my best friends growing up here in California. 



Beau is named after our baby brother, Timothy Beau, who died of S.I.D.S at 6 weeks old when I was 14.  My Beau's nickname is "Beau-skee". 

Reef's nickname is "Reefy".  Which seems very generic but my mom also has a little something that she says to him to make him feel special.  It's a borrowed slogan from a fast food chain.  Can you guess it?  "Where's The Reef?"
 



Cruz is "Cruzers". But he is more commonly known by my mom as "My Sweet Face Boy". And he does have a sweet face. Unfortunately, it's not looking so sweet after having a quick meeting with the pavement.

Nothing a little bit of ice cream couldn't cure, though!  Thanks Papa! (The bill is in the mail!)

This is Jayda Rae.  She is Jessica's and "Buggie's"  gorgeous girl who is soon to be a big sister.  She's also known as "Punkadoodle".  She's the sweetest little thing.  So far she's the only grandchild with brown eyes and they just melt me.  She's also got some BIG britches.  It's not uncommon to find her with her hand on her hip running the show.  She's going to be a good big sister.

 

Jessica was such a sport to host us all even on the brink of delivering Baby #2

This is Whit's daughter, Brooklyn.  My mom originally gave her the nickname of "Sunshine Girl" (pronounced "Shunshine) but lately she's been calling her "Tuntin".  I'm not sure if it's a spin off of "pumpkin" or because she does funny things with her tongue.  Maybe both.  She is so adorable that it just kills me.  My mom thinks she looks a lot like me when I was an adorable baby.  I think she's growing out of that, though.  Not the part about being adorable.... just looking like me. 

Drake and Jess have decided to name Baby #2 (a boy) Seanoa Drake, after daddy.  He will go by "Noa", a shortened version of his first name.  I love that they've chosen to do this.  So far we refer to him as "Baby Noa" but that's soon to change once my mom catches sight of him.

And finally, the grand finale... the woman that started us all... my mom.  Once again, let me state that it's very easy to differentiate between the grandma's when one has a nickname.  My kids will correct us if we call her "Grandma" or "Grandma DiMatteo".  It's "Go-Ma".  And just like her license plate frame says,   "Go-Ma's The Name, Spoilin's The Game."

And let's face it.  Since I'm the oldest, I'd like to argue that I'm the favorite!